Chapter Eleven #2
Maybe it wasn’t a good idea to put herself through so much before her two appointments that evening. The smiles she had to fake and the forced pleasant conversation made her feel like an imposter. On the outside, she was the picture of professionalism. Inside, she was dying.
The lawyer came dressed in an expensive-looking suit that must have been tailored to fit him perfectly. Though the suit softened the lines of his body, she could tell he was fit and muscular underneath. Erica found it rather remarkable how many well-built men lived in this town.
More than that, Wyatt must have been an amazing defense attorney.
He carried a presence that was hard to overlook or disregard.
When he spoke, she could believe people paid close attention.
Erica could have attributed it to his physique, but it was more in the way his dark blue eyes pierced through the very soul, demanding respect instead of earning it with kind words and compassion.
Erica couldn’t be intimidated so easily, though he did look as if he could easily break a few bones if he really wanted to.
She led him into the living room, where she had set up her usual headshot backdrop.
“Thanks for squeezing me in on such short notice,” Wyatt said. “I know you must be getting a lot of business.”
Without being told, he took his place in front of the white canvas, and Erica grabbed her camera from the sofa cushion.
“It’s off to a good start, I can say that much.
I’m just glad I was able to get home in time for your appointment.
The last photo shoot at Jade Lake took a little longer than I expected. ”
She also briefly told him about the car trouble from earlier that day and how Officer Cole Spradley had come to her rescue. At the mention of the sheriff’s name, Wyatt’s lips pulled into a slightly sour look, but only for a fleeting second.
“You don’t like Officer Spradley?” she asked.
Wyatt let out a heavy sigh and shrugged his broad shoulders. “He’s not my favorite guy in the world, but I guess he does a lot of good things in Tolstone.”
Somehow, she took offense to his conceited tone, and Erica couldn’t understand why.
“He seems like a pretty good guy to me.” She quickly thumbed through the gallery to make sure she had enough memory for the session.
When she flipped past some of Dominic’s pictures from the festival, her stomach got twisted up again.
“Something wrong?” Wyatt asked so tenderly that Erica stiffened.
“I’m fine.” She laughed it off. “It’s just been a long day. Are you ready?”
Erica instructed him to turn, tilt, freeze, and smile so she could get the right shots that would make him seem less threatening to potential clients.
It was harder than she thought, but she had to admit that his face photographed well.
That ever-present dangerous quality in his stare would probably never go away, though.
It was like the caricature of a supervillain had jumped straight out of a comic book and personified this man, but he seemed to have all the intentions of a well-meaning lawyer.
In the midst of the lens flashes and shutter clicks, he asked, “How are you liking Tolstone?”
“It’s a great little town.”
“It’s got a great history too.”
That made her think of Dominic and how his family had founded Tolstone centuries ago. That brought back that tight, nauseous feeling in her gut.
“Does it?”
“Dominic hasn’t told you about it yet?”
At this, she lowered her camera and stared.
Never once in their conversation had she mentioned Dominic, and she was fairly certain she had never seen this man before, so how did he know that she was acquainted with the antique shop owner at all?
Was this related to Cole’s question about whether they were dating?
How could a rumor spread so fast in a town this size?
Instead of trying to interrogate the lawyer about what he thought was going on between her and Dominic, Erica replied, “Not much. He told me that his family founded the place, but that’s about it.”
Wyatt’s smile softened, and he gave a huff. “Figures he wouldn’t tell you much. Probably doesn’t want to scare you away.”
If this man wasn’t paying her for her professionalism, she might have rolled her eyes. Instead, she lifted her camera again to snap a few shots. “I don’t scare away easily, Mr. Ratner.”
It sounded like something out of a horror movie, a line spoken by a girl who was about to be proven wrong.
“There are a lot of rumors around Dominic’s family.”
“That hasn’t seemed to bother people too much. Let’s get some of you from the other side.” The conversation paused so she could direct him on how to mirror his pose.
They could have talked about anything else, like the weather, the festival, how he became a lawyer, or how she became a photographer. Hell, they could have talked about football teams for all she cared, but for whatever deranged reason, Wyatt wanted to continue their talk about Dominic.
“They say his family’s not normal.”
Her finger froze over the capture button for just a second. Those golden eyes, the way he could move so quickly, all of those little instances came back to her, and suddenly, she was ready to indulge this guy’s weird resolve to slander Dominic’s good name.
“Not normal?”
“Back when they were settling in this area, a lot of people said the woods around here were infested with wolves.”
Erica had completely lowered the camera now and watched the way Wyatt’s eyes danced with satisfaction. He had her right where he wanted her, and she knew it. “Wolves?”
“Yeah. For a long time, no one would even come near this place because people who went into the forest never came out again. It wasn’t until Dominic’s ancestors came that people were finally able to set up homes and build Tolstone.”
Erica propped her free hand on her hip. “So, they killed the wolves?”
Wyatt shook his head and kept his gaze riveted on her.
“There were never any bodies found. No furs, nothing. No proof that they even forced the wolves out. The rumor is that Dominic’s ancestors were somehow able to tame the wolves and make them leave the humans alone.
” He shrugged. “Another variation is that Dominic and his family were the wolves, because when they showed up, the wolves disappeared too. That would mean Dominic’s ancestors were werewolves or something. ”
Werewolves. Shapeshifters. That ridiculous theory lined up with the golden, wolfish eyes, inhuman speed, and agility.
She had seen enough movies to know that wasn’t quite enough to condemn Dominic.
Where was his great strength? Or ferocious carnivore appetite?
She recalled they’d had a full moon recently, but Dominic didn’t act any differently.
It was too absurd a theory to entertain.
Too many holes, and besides, werewolves were the stuff of fairy tales and horror movies.
They weren’t hot antique shop owners who went around fixing leaky sinks.
Still, something in the way Wyatt talked had Erica curious to the point she couldn’t shake the idea.
And the image of those gold eyes continued to haunt her.
Underneath it all, pulsed that thread that connected her and Dominic. Strong, indestructible, undeterred, even at the introduction of this new and startling concept.
Erica preferred the first theory, that Dominic and his family weren’t descended from wolves, but simply drove them out somehow. But why did it matter? It was just some urban legend, and it was unlikely anyone took it seriously.
“Of course, the history books will always say they were fur traders from France who came to settle here because of the good game supply.”
The photo shoot didn’t seem so important anymore, but she had a job to do. Slightly embarrassed by the way his story entranced her, Erica shook her head and waved him over. “Do you want to see if you’re happy with any of these?”
Wyatt crossed the parlor, so slow and ambling that it almost unnerved her.
She likened it to a predator stalking its prey.
He leaned over as she thumbed through the dozens of pictures, but it took only a minute to realize that he wasn’t paying attention to the camera preview screen.
His dark sapphire eyes were focused solely on her.
Erica felt her heartbeat quicken, and the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end.
It wasn’t for the fact that Wyatt, a good-looking man, stood so close and stared at her.
It was out of fear of what he would see if he kept gazing at her in that hungry way that made her stomach churn.
Would he see that his talk about werewolves really bothered her?
“Like any of these?” she asked, hoping to draw him out of his concentration.
“I like all of them.” The low intimacy in his voice made her skin crawl.
Erica lowered the camera and gave him her usual cordial grin. “I’ll upload all of these later this evening and share them through my gallery website. Would that be okay?”
Wyatt didn’t have the chance to see through her. “Why don’t you put all these on a thumb drive, and you can deliver them to me tonight?”
“That’s not the way I prefer to get the files to my clients.”
He flashed her a set of perfectly straight, pearly white teeth. “Well, I guess that would also ruin my plans to ask you out for dinner. The thumb drive was just an excuse to get you to my place.”
A flush flowed down her back at the thought of having dinner with this guy. Before she could form a more polite response, she blurted out, “I have plans tonight. I’m sorry.”
It was a lie, and by the displeased look on Wyatt’s face, he must have known it was a lie. He quickly recovered and took the rejection gracefully. “Rain check then? I’d love to learn more about you. Maybe I could—”
“I’ve got your number.” Erica’s cheeks ached with the effort to maintain her smile. “When I’ve got a free night, I’ll call you.”
It seemed to click for Wyatt, and his smile died. “Sounds like a plan.” She took a step toward the foyer to signal that this appointment was over, but he waved her off. “I can see myself out. You have a great night. And thanks for your time.”
When the latch on the door clicked and Erica was alone again, she let out a long breath. She didn’t care if Wyatt was disappointed by her refusal. If she couldn’t feel safe in her own house with him standing next to her, there was no way she could last through dinner with him.
What made her palms sweat and legs weak was the greater possibility that there was something supernatural about Dominic, as Wyatt suggested.
It figured that she would fall for someone she couldn’t have, but to want someone who wasn’t even human was totally unexpected.
She needed something to debunk this entire crazy idea that Dominic was a werewolf.
She needed there to be a better explanation for everything she had seen.
But she couldn’t think of one.